Hudson is of Italian (from his paternal grandmother), Hungarian Jewish (from his maternal grandmother), English, German, as well as very distant Dutch, descent. He is the cousin of singer Sarah Hudson.

In 2013 Hudson was cast in the recurring role of Jeff Fordham for the second season on the ABC drama series Nashville.[3][4] Hudson later was promoted to series regular for third season.[5]

In 2015 Hudson was cast as a series regular on the horror comedy anthology series Scream Queens playing Wes, the father of a college sorority pledge member. Hudson juggled both his role as Jeff on Nashville and his role as Wes on Scream Queens, since he had a one-year series regular deal with Nashville before it was renewed for a fourth season.[6]

Also in 2015, Hudson and his sister, Kate Hudson, launched FL2, a men's activewear line and subsidiary of Fabletics.[7]

Hudson married Erinn Bartlett on June 9, 2006, in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The ceremony was officiated by a Buddhist monk.[8] The couple has two sons: Wilder (born 2007) and Bodhi (born 2010),[9][10] and a daughter, Rio (born 2013).[11]